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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Easy Crispy Fluffy Pandan Waffles

I grew up eating pandan waffles...

Whether you live in Hougang, Clementi, Yishun, Joo Chiat, Tampines or any heartland neighbourhoods in Singapore, there are always humble down to earth bakery shops somewhere near your home that sell freshly made pandan waffles. These waffles are usually prominently made at the front entrance of the shops... so that smell of cooking pandan will lure to buy at least a waffle or two!

Living in Australia means I have been saying sayonara (meaning Goodbye in Japanese) to pandan waffles for ages!!! Why? ... because every time when I come back to Singapore for holidays, I'm constantly overwhelmed with too many good food and always fail to find enough stomach space to enjoy these energy loaded pandan waffles.

I'm not going to say sayonara pandan waffles forever...

Here, making my own waffles at my Melbourne home means that I can say... Hello, you yummy pandan waffles!

Pandan Crispy Waffles

Prior making these waffles, I have done some research and compared many waffles recipes. And I saw an important similarity in most waffle recipes...

It is kind of obvious that any batter that is made with high water content can't make crispy waffles! Yup... water is crispy waffle's enemy and fat is crispy waffle's friend!

As you know that fat can be our friend and also enemy and so depending on your perspective, you might want to make your waffle differently.

If you are a person who is after convenience like me who like to mix and cook your pandan waffles very quickly, this is the recipe that uses minimal water and will never fail your expectation!

For this recipe, the use of minimal water means that we have to use regular coconut milk with minimal water content and so do not use reduced fat coconut milk or substitute the coconut milk with water, milk or even pandan juice!

Regular vs light coconut milkFor an ultimate taste and crispness, I would strongly recommend the use of the regular coconut milk.

Why? I can't deny the fact that the lesser water make more flavoursome waffles!

Another thing I want to raise about coconut milk... Remember I said at my Kueh Bangkit post before that the water and fat content of coconut milk from different coconut can often vary dramatically. For this reason, I was "attacked" pretty badly for using canned coconut cream for my baking... All because it can produce consistent result?

Yes that I have to agree that the canned coconut milk is not as fresh, fragrant and natural as the freshly squeezed ones but I like to strongly stand by my point here that it is the ultimate consistency that I'm after. So please pardon me being extremely blunt here... If you wish to cook or bake something that produce inconsistent results because the ingredient that you used can be always different, by all means please go ahead!

Instead of coconut oil, I have used melted butter and it is fantastic too!

Sorry that there is NO fresh pandan juice today!To minimise the amount of water in these waffles, I have to use pandan paste.

This recipe is very easy... as all I have to do is mix.

Nice pandan smell!I was enjoying the smell while watching the batter is bubbling in the hot waffle iron.

Can't wait to chomp these waffles... LOL!

Crispy on its outside.Soft, moist and fluffy at its inside.

This recipe that I used originates from Noob Cook which suggests the use of coconut oil for an ultimate coconut flavours but I reckon the use of regular coconut milk with minimal water content and butter can produce very yummy coconut-y waffles too.If you are health conscious and like to use less coconut milk and less butter to make your pandan waffles, there are two recipes at Food.com (originated from House of Annie) and Cuisine Paradise that you can try. However, both of these recipes need whipping of egg whites to stiff peaks as it is an essential step to make waffles with slightly lower fat content a little more fluffier. Hence, this recipe will cause a little extra inconvenience.Another advantage is you can use fresh pandan juice if you are using the recipe from Cuisine Paradise. Having said that, I can't really say which recipe makes the best pandan waffles as this is the only pandan waffle recipe that I have tried so far. And you know... so far so good, no complains at this moment as we are loving these waffles.Here's the recipe that is mostly adapted from Noob CookMakes five 9 x 9 cm square waffles(A) Dry ingredients125g unbleached all-purpose flour50g caster sugar2 tsp baking powder1/8 tsp salt(B) Wet ingredients1 large egg (50g without the shell)1/4 tsp pandan paste200ml coconut milk, preferably the regular canned ones with minimal water content60g unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly to room temperaturecooking oil spray to greaseCombine all the ingredients in A in a bowl.Using a whisk, combine all the ingredients in B in another large mixing bowl. Sift ingredients A into ingredients B and whisk until the batter is just smooth. Do not over mix.Preheat waffle iron to its lowest heat setting.Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Caution: If you are cooking waffles on your stove, please do not spray cooking oil into direct fire!Pour adequate waffle batter (about 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup) onto hot waffle iron. Cook until both sides are lightly golden brown.Enjoy!Happy Cooking

Eh, kam ngam, I also had waffles this week, but not home-made.. It's from the packet, Gardenia.. They are selling waffles at RM1.50 or RM2.50 per pack.. 2 pieces inside, original taste.. I eat with honey and butter.. My kids love it plain.. I don't have a waffle maker, else, I will make my own too :)

Hi Zoe, I love and miss the pandan waffles from prima deli! But I'm still not convinced on getting a waffle griddle... I don't think I'll use them very often, so I guess I'll make pandan pancakes instead xD I'm also using the same pandan extract as you, it's impossible to grab hold of pandan leaves here! And just to let you know, your kueh bangkit recipe link isn't working ;)

Thank you for the info on Coconut Milk. Is there such thing as Organic Coconut Cream/Milk? It grows with such a 'thick' coverings, so I am not so concerned with being Organic or not, but it's during the Canning what been added is a concern. Thanks, again.

Yes that there is organic coconut milk / cream / oil selling in the market. In order to make sure that the organic food that you purchase is truly grown or made without the use of artificial chemicals, I would strongly suggest you to check the authenticity of its organic certification.

Nevertheless, I don't think you should be concern about the canning process of all food. Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food contents are sterilized with high temperature and sealed in an airtight container. Although the smell, taste and nutritional content might deteriorated after a long period of storage, the food is perfectly safe to consumed. In the case of canned coconut milk, I have noticed there is even no artificial chemical added (including that I have used to cook the food in my blog). To ensure that, I would strongly suggest you to check the contents of the canned coconut milk before you made any purchases.

Best evarr recipe, i tried to make it now cos i have all the ingredients at home. Crispy outside,soft inside the pandan waffles is so fluffy which i love it to the max!! I wish that i could show you the picture of my waffle and I'm enjoying every bite of it! Thanks for sharing ur recipe ����.

Made these this morning. But I used Ayam brand coconut cream instead of milk coz I didn't check my pantry and that's all i had on had. They turned out brilliantly! My Singaporean friends here think it's pretty close to the void deck waffles we are used to, but I'd reduce my waffle maker heat to the LOWEST setting because they turned out a bit too crispy. I'd add a bit more pandan paste for my next batch. I'm very happy with the results. Thank you! 3>

Hi Lisi, In this blog post, I have mentioned "For this recipe, the use of minimal water means that we have to use regular coconut milk with minimal water content and so do not use reduced fat coconut milk or substitute the coconut milk with water, milk or even pandan juice!" Cheers!

Hi - I made these waffles today. Turned out fine, my house smelled delightful but I found the 50g of caster sugar too sweet, and 60g of butter or oil too oily. I will pull down on both in future. I also used vanilla paste instead of pandan paste, as I didn't have pandan paste at home.

Hi Zoe, thank you soooooooo much for this recipe! I actually live in Singapore where waffles are pretty accessible, but I have two young sons and I just can't be bothered to lug them with me to get waffles cos u know, it would never be "just a quick trip to the bakery." Ever since we got a waffle maker, I've been trying to find The Recipe, u know! And I've tried whipping egg whites, I've tried fresh coconut milk, squeezing those fresh pandan leaves for that miserable bit of juice and it was just crazy a lot of work for slightly less than satisfactory results. Then along came your simple recipe... gosh, this must be the crispiest batch of waffles I've ever made! I actually realized while putting the batter together that I only had 32g of butter left, so I substituted the difference with some olive oil and it seems to work anyway! Though I'd imagine that if I had used only butter it would have been even more flavorful. Sorry for such a long post, I'm just soooo excited to have found such a good recipe!! Thank you sooooooo much!

Hi Natasha, Glad to hear that you like this recipe. Yes that you can use olive oil to make crispy waffles too but olive oil tends to have a grassy taste and is better to use for salad and not for high heating cooking / baking. You can substitute butter with vegetable / canola oil with low saturated fat and those ideally with no trans fat. Nevertheless, waffles made with butter are the most delicious :p Agree? Cheers!

Hi, Yes that you can keep the remaining batter in the fridge for probably just 1 day because the baking powder will lose its rising capability if you keep the batter in the fridge for too long. Or you can cook the waffles and keep the leftover in a freezer and reheat them in an oven whenever you want to eat them. Cheers!

Hi Liana, Happy to know that you like this recipe but do you know that too much coconut oil is actually bad for our health? Coconut oil is VERY high in saturated fat (higher than butter) and can cause heart diseases! Butter is bad too but not as bad as coconut oil! This is why I prefer to make my waffles with butter and I like its milky buttery taste too. Cheers!

Hi ! I’ve tried the recipe and I’m loving it! It is very similar to those found in Prima Deli. Thank you for sharing the recipe. I’ve a question though. If I were to double the recipe, do I double all the ingredients ? Including the coconut milk and the baking powder? Thank you in advance ☺️